Possible honing kit

[C FrankC]

Seems like a few of us get caught up in finishers including me, but after seven years as a student of honing the reality is I spend quite a bit of time honing on my lower grit stones; much more time than on my finishers.
That may not be true for the shaver that has a moderate stable of good razors and just needs to keep them shaving well, but for those of us that are constantly experimenting or restoring & honing for others, the bevel setters and mid progression stones are likely to see more time, sometimes a lot more time.
If I could go back to when I started one of the important things I would change is that I would have acquired the low and mid grit stones that I have now instead of wasting time and effort on less than stellar stones in this range.
The edge starts at the bevel, miss that at your own peril.

 

[redwoolf]

Seems like a few of us get caught up in finishers including me, but after seven years as a student of honing the reality is I spend quite a bit of time honing on my lower grit stones; much more time than on my finishers.
That may not be true for the shaver that has a moderate stable of good razors and just needs to keep them shaving well, but for those of us that are constantly experimenting or restoring & honing for others, the bevel setters and mid progression stones are likely to see more time, sometimes a lot more time.
If I could go back to when I started one of the important things I would change is that I would have acquired the low and mid grit stones that I have now instead of wasting time and effort on less than stellar stones in this range.
The edge starts at the bevel, miss that at your own peril.

This is great advice. Which are the low and mid grit stones that you have now? What would you suggest?

 

[C FrankC]

Let's see I have Naniwa Professionals 400,600,800,1K & 3K. The 800 I use for restoration on edges that are very damaged followed by the 1K>3K.
If edges are just in need of a reset on hard steel, I start @ the 1K or use the Shaptons.
I also have a near full set of Shapton HR's so I could also use the 1K HR.
If the steel is milder, I usually start either @ the 3K Nani Pro or the 4K Shapton HR

I have the Naniwa Gouken Fuji 4K and Hayabusa 8K, these stones work very well as mid-level pair after bevel set and the 8K really leaves a nice edge, a great jumping off point for natural finishers or pastes & some people even shave off of it.

The Shapton HR's are also very nice but they are hard fast & aggressive, they leave very shallow stria but new sharpeners can hone into the weeds very quickly so be careful.

The 8K Snow White is also very nice & works well in most all of my synth progressions. I sometimes set a bevel on the 1K Nani Pro then refine the bevel on the 3K Pro, jump to the Snow White and finish with the 12K Nani SS a; jump from hear to a finishing Ark is also one of my fav's.

So for suggestions; if I have a lot of edges to get thru I use the Shaptons as they are hard, fast stones that work well as a system, they are time efficient and consistent. If a synthetic finish is the desired end point I can run right through to 30K on them or sub the G20 at the end.
Another very good set up would be the Nani Pro 1K or 3K, Nani Fuji 4K>Hayabusa8K for all Naniwa then finish with the 12 SS or the Gok20, from hear the world is your oyster.

If you're into J-Nats you could always get a good synth bevel setter and a good fast Suita as a mid level stone then a great base stone and a handful of Tomo's and Bob's your uncle!